This is Halloween
by BFCAS
Summary: When Max is forced to a Halloween Party, what makes it bearable? A blue haired pirate captain might do the trick. The first Halloween after five years apart, what could go wrong?


Here we go again, day two of Pricefield Week 2019! The prompt was Pirates/Partners and hopefully you get how I've used both of those in this! Enjoy this waaaaay too long fic and if you wanna check out the rest of my fics then head over to my tumblr bfcas00 Okay, let's go, I suppose?

* * *

"Knock knock!" Came the cheery voice from the door that made Max spin in her desk chair to find a widely smiling Dana Ward leant against the door frame. Max smiled timidly, sitting so she had turned to Dana, who took the small action as permission to come in. Max liked Dana a lot but the girl really was relentless when it came to social interaction.

"Hey hey little Max." She smiled as she crossed the room to stand next to Max's desk. Max smiled back, surreptitiously closing the photo editing she had been working with on her laptop screen, leaving her Facebook profile in its place (which wasn't much better for Max's self-consciousness but it wasn't as if Dana took any notice).

"Hey, Dana." She took a quick scan of Dana's outfit, noting the painted on skeleton makeup and copious amounts of fake blood and glitter splattered over the skeleton costume. She chuckled at the sight; Dana really wasn't lying when she said she went all out for Halloween. "Nice costume. Very Funnybones with a dash of disco." She nodded as she tapped a particularly garish splash of glitter on Dana's forearm. Dana grinned.

"Thanks! I'm thinking of calling it," She held her make up covered hands out in a jazz hand fashion. "Saturday Fright Fever." She looked back to Max with a cheesy grin on her face, obviously proud of her dumb pun. Max groaned, a hand shoving the girl away as they both laughed. "Oh c'mon that was good!" Dana protested, shoving Max playfully right back.

"I'm not even gonna entertain the thought." Max said, shaking her head, leaving Dana to roll her eyes with a huff.

"Fine. But you are coming tonight, right?" She asked hopefully, tracing a finger across one of Lisa 2.0's leaves. Lisa v.1 had had a good run until Max had accidentally forgotten to ask Kate to water her whilst Max went back to Seattle for a fortnight. Max cocked her head to the side.

"Tonight?" She asked confused. Dana dropped her hand from the leaves.

"The Halloween party? Over in the gym?" Dana reminded her, gesturing to her costume. "Or do you think I wear this on the daily?" Max shrugged.

"I think that given the chance, yes you sure would."

"Touche young Max, touche." Dana pointed at her. "But anyway. Party? Tonight? You? Coming? Yes?" She all but commanded. Max took a breath in to think of an excuse but Dana spoke before she could. "You can bring Chloe!" She smiled, knowing that the way to persuade Max to any social event was granting her a plus one for her blue haired delinquent best friend.

"Bring me to what?" Max heard, looking past Dana to see Chloe Price all but swagger into the room at the mention of her name. She swiped a cookie from the box on Max's wardrobe, stuffing the whole thing in as she crossed the room to stand with the two girls. Dana threw a glittery arm over her shoulders, prompting a look of surprise from the blue haired girl.

"Halloween party tonight. Costumes, booze, fireworks and music." She listed, Chloe staring at her in delight at the sound of it as she chewed through the cookie in her mouth. "I'm trying to convince our friend Maxine here to come along."

Max opened her mouth to retort with her default line of "Max, never Maxine" but Chloe shooting a hand out to grab her shoulder squashed any such words from escaping.

"Oh man, Max we have to go." Chloe grinned, the words coming with a shower of crumbs that landed in Max's hair and on her face. She grimaced, the spray of damp crumbs a particularly unpleasant sensation. She felt chilly fingers brush along her cheek, no doubt sweeping up the crumbs that lay there and she looked up to see Chloe smiling sheepishly down at her, with Dana giggling behind her hand at the scene.

"Sorry." Chloe smiled, brushing the crumbs away on the side of her pants. "But please? Please can we go?" she asked, with such a pathetically pleading tone and a smile as though butter wouldn't melt, but Max absolutely knew the girl better than that. Still, all it took was a long moment of staring into wide blue eyes and Max caved.

"Fine." She sighed, shoulders sagging in defeat. Dana and Chloe let out a whoop of excitement and high fived. Dana leant forward and dropped a kiss on top of Max's head with such enthusiasm that it knocked the younger girl back half a foot in her chair.

"So fireworks start at 9, party at 10 and drinking until we can't stand at 10.01, got it?" Dana said to the pair as she walked backwards out of the room. "And remember, costumes are mandatory not optional." She reached the door, letting out a final squeak of excitement. "See you by the fountain!"

Max sighed, turning back in her chair to close down her computer. Great, she thought, there goes my plans of watching the Scream trilogy with a tub of ice cream. It wasn't that she hated parties, just loud shitty dance music, drunk idiots and especially fireworks. So this evening had all the makings of a shit fest. Chloe folded her arms as she watched Max close the laptop.

"What's wrong?" Max heard Chloe say from behind her. She put on a brave face before turning around. When she did stand from her chair, she saw a suspicious Chloe looking her over. She could feel steely blue eyes searching every detail on her face and the gaze was enough to make Max avert her eyes and busy herself by walking over to her bed to shuffle the cushions.

"Nothing. Why would anything be wrong?" Max asked, voice several pitches too high to be convincing. She picked up Captain and was about to set him down in a new seating position when she felt him be snatched from her hands. Chloe flopped down onto the bed that Max had just made, prompting another sigh from the brunette. She placed Captain in the middle of her stomach as she lay on the bed.

"You're doing your 'I don't wanna do this' face." Chloe gestured to her. Max rolled her eyes. "There it is!"

"No, that's my 'my best friend is a pain in my ass and is still laying on my tidy bed' face. They're easily confused." She deadpanned, moving over to the dresser to rearrange the pencils in the pot atop it. Chloe threw Captain, the small bear hitting Max clean across the side of her head with a thud. Max yelped, throwing the bear straight back to hit Chloe in the chest, making her grab a boob in an over exaggerated display of pain.

"Come on, what's up? Do you not wanna go tonight?" Chloe persisted. "Do you not like Halloween anymore or something?" The question made Max remember all the Halloweens her and Chloe had had as kids. All the trick or treating and spooky movies that they definitely shouldn't have been watching but William had smuggled in for them anyway. She smiled at the memory.

"No, not that. I like Halloween, I do."

"Then what's the problem? We can go, get totally wasted and eat enough candy to make ourselves sick!" Chloe beamed, sitting up on the bed. Max sat down next to her, staring at her socks and the way her toes curled nervously into the carpet.

"I don't know, I was kind of hoping to just hang out here tonight." She said quietly, staring at her feet to avoid Chloe's gaze.

"Dude, it's Halloween! Let's at least get some costumes and score some free booze before we come back and watch dumb scary movies." Her hand landed on Max's knee, squeezing her leg enthusiastically. "Come on, I dare you. Double dare you."

Max looked up, more than prepared to say no and that Chloe could go by herself but the smile on her face and the glint in her eye that spelt nothing but trouble had Max nodding against her will.

"Okay, fine. One drink." She agreed, holding up one finger sternly.

"Two?"

Max tapped Chloe on the end of the nose with her outstretched finger.

"Don't push it, Price."

Chloe smiled excitedly, her fingers tapping an excited rhythm onto her knees. Max smiled too, even though she was now being forced to a dumb party and even dumber fireworks against her will. But who knew, maybe with Chloe by her side it wouldn't be as unbearable as she thought?

"One small issue, scream queen." Max said, a hand coming up to gesture at the pair of them. "No costumes. And I'm fairly sure any costumes in a five mile radius will have been bought by now."

"Yeah, about that." Chloe smiled mischievously. "I have something that might work."

Max narrowed her eyes at the look on her best friends face. "I have a feeling I'm going to regret ever saying yes to you."

* * *

It turned out that Max absolutely did regret saying yes, much to her own surprise and she was now stood on the landing of the Price household with an armful of brightly coloured and fabrics that Chloe periodically threw down at her to catch.

"Oh dude, I did not think I still had this kicking around!" Max heard Chloe yell from the attic. She looked up to find the blue haired girl waving a plastic cutlass, instantly preparing for the potentially dangerous object (or definitely 100% dangerous in the hands of Chloe Price, clumsy extraordinaire) to fly down towards her. The throw never came, as Chloe simply tucked it into her belt loop and disappeared back into the attic to look through the dressing up box her parents had stored up there.

Max scanned over the stuff in her arms: some t shirts, shorts and various props from their days of pirate dress up. Max smiled fondly at the memory before laughing at the thought of the two of them trying to fit into the clothes five years on. Max could maybe just about get away with it but she knew for a fact that Chloe was as gangly as they came and had no chance. She'd be lucky if the shorts weren't just hot pants by now.

Her thoughts of Chloe in hot pants were knocked out of her head by the light thud of two hats hitting the floor just by her feet, shortly followed by Chloe herself, holding a large coat in one hand.

"Arrrr you ready, First Mate Max?" She beamed, pushing the ladder back into the loft athletically. Max rolled her eyes.

"After all these years, I'm still not the Captain?" She smiled, an eyebrow quirked in challenge. Chloe laughed, throwing an arm over her shoulder to guide her back into her room.

"You prove your worth and overthrow me, then we can talk about it." Chloe winked, kicking the door shut behind them. "For now, we costume!"

* * *

"Don't say a word." Chloe said, tone low and dangerous. Max held in her snicker with minimal results. "Max…" She warned again. Max smothered another giggle with the palm of her hand.

"No Chlo, I was just gonna say… You… You look great." Max got out through silent laughter. Chloe scowled at her in the mirror. But how could Max help it when Chloe looked that dumb?

As predicted, the costumes were too small but whereas Max's just sat a bit tight on her arms (a problem combated by hacking at the stripy t shirts sleeves) and the shorts didn't quite do up because of hips she had not had as a kid, Chloe's were half the size they needed to be. Her t shirt sat far too tight across her chest, thanks to boobs that Max had not been blessed with and rode high up, revealing nearly half of Chloe's pale stomach. It was something that a 00's college girl would wear to spring break and the shorts looking like hot pants was an accurate guess on Max's behalf.

"Shut up. We're gonna have to think of something else." Chloe scowled, pulling the t shirt over her head without a second thought. Max blushed, turning her attention to her own costume, choosing to play with the newly ripped sleeves and look at anything that wasn't a half naked Chloe Price in front of her.

Half an hour later and the entire contents of Chloe's wardrobe (and some of David's) had been strewn across Chloe's bed. Finally, after many many rejections and some creative altering (mainly Chloe hacking at David's clothing with scissors), the two girls had completed their costumes and were stood looking in Chloe's bathroom mirror at themselves as they applied some essential to the look makeup.

Max wore a red striped t shirt and black cut off pants, plus an old pair of Chloe's boots that sat a size or so too big around her ankles. Added on was her trusty eyepatch from when she was a kid and a red bandana tied around her head. Serious deja vu, she thought as she applied eyeliner. I feel like I'm 10 again, in my pirate gear. She looked to her left, smiling as Chloe fiddled with a small hoop earring she had put in. And Chloe's here too. Max and Chloe, the pirates of Arcadia Bay.

"And we are done. How do I look?" Chloe asked, doing a theatrical spin with her arms out wide. Max looked her top to toe. Her blue hair was in a small braid, underneath the pirate hat she wore as a kid. Over a white t shirt she wore one of David's waistcoats, that she had insisted on tearing just a little. Max had just had to sigh and let her carry on, knowing that Chloe was unstoppable when she had an idea in her head. Around her waist was a skull and crossbone scarf tied round in a makeshift belt, the leftover fabric trailing at her side. Her pants were rolled up on one leg and she had smeared a load of fake blood on the exposed skin ("It's Halloween Max, there HAS to be blood!" she had insisted. Max just laughed.).

"You look like a pirate." Max smiled, the wave of nostalgia flooding over her in a way she hadn't felt before. Chloe smiled back, dropping her arms at her sides.

"So do you. Like my first mate." Chloe nodded, a soft smile on her features that Max couldn't quite read. She forced herself to drag her gaze from Chloe or she would've stayed there in the moment, frozen forever. She picked up her camera that sat atop her hoody on the sink.

"Cmon, you knew this was gonna happen sometime." Max laughed as Chloe groaned melodramatically. She lifted the camera above her head and pointed it towards the pair of them, struggling to fit Chloe in for a second or so until Chloe gently plucked the camera from her hands to hold it a few inches higher in the air and get them both in, her arm not holding the camera coming to sit upon Max's shoulders. Max wound her arm around Chloe's waist, holding on tight to her as the taller girl pulled her close.

"Say 'yo ho ho and a bottle of rum'!" Chloe grinned, making Max smile even wider than she had been as the camera clicked and flashed, spitting out a polaroid a moment later. Chloe handed Max the camera back and Max had to ignore the jutter in her heart at the brush of their fingertips, instead focusing on the polaroid and the beginning fade of colour it showed.

"Hold on, I'll grab my fake ID and then Captain Bluebeard and Long Max Silver are hitting the high seas to the liquor store, baby!" Chloe all but cheered as she left the bathroom. Max rolled her eyes; Chloe was such a delinquent these days but damn it, Max loved it. She took one last look at the developing polaroid in her hand, just seeing the outlines of the pair of them before she threw her battered camera bag over her shoulder and slid the photo in amongst the others that sat in there, making a note to look at it later and add it to the Max Caulfied Photo Memorial Wall, once this nightmare evening drew to a close.

* * *

An hour and $30 later, the two pirates had made their way back to Max's dorm room, bumping into several other people along the way, all excited to be going to the party. Kate, Stella and Alyssa were dressed in Hogwarts robes, leaving Max to compliment them on their costumes as Chloe high fived Trevor for his skeleton costume that matched Dana's, just with less glitter. Even Victoria, Taylor and Courtney had got into the spirit of things, dressing in bright pink clothes as the Plastics from Mean Girls. Max had to commend them for the self-awareness of their costumes - either that or they were totally oblivious.

"Oh, dude, I am SO pumped!" Chloe said, hopping from foot to foot as Max closed the door behind them. Chloe set the pack of beers and bottle of wine on Max's desk before spinning around to grin at Max. "Are you not stoked?"

Max shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess." Her hand came to grab at her other arm and she swayed slightly as she hugged herself. "I was pretty stoked to just stay in and watch Saw though." She muttered, ignoring the way that Chloe folded in arms in disappointment. She could feel Chloe watching her nervously tap her fingers against her arm for a long moment and nearly looked up from the floor before she heard Chloe sigh.

"Okay, how about we go, watch the fireworks and have our one," She coughed loudly, smothering the word two in there before continuing "drink." She crossed the room and Max looked up as Chloe gently pried her hand from her arm, linking her fingers with Max's and doing the same with the other hand. Max looked into caring blue eyes as they stood holding hands.

"We'll do some dancing, maybe take some pictures and then we'll steal as much pirate loot into our pockets and come back to your dorm room to watch movies, okay?" Chloe asked, bringing their joined hands to her chest. Max stood, hands pressed to Chloe's heartbeat and felt comforted by her best friend's words. Maybe she would enjoy it, the shitty dance music and the drunken idiots, if she was enduring it with her pirate captain.

"Yeah. Okay." Max nodded, a small smile on her features that only grew when Chloe dropped her hands to throw her arms around Max instead. She pulled her into a bear hug that Max was grateful to be pulled into. She lay her head on Chloe's shoulder, breathing in the scent of generic men's deodorant, stale cigarettes and washing powder. It was a combination that on anyone else would have Max pulling away as soon as possible but the underlying smell of childhood and just Chloe had her winding her arms around Chloe's waist to pull her closer. The warmth and familiarity of the hug settled her nerves, knowing that the same hug would be there whenever she needed it throughout the night.

"So," Chloe grinned as she let Max go, crossing over to the desk to grab two beers from the box they had bought. She handed one to Max, who took it with a grimace. She hated beer but took it nonetheless, Chloe's excitement too cute to squash.

"A toast." Chloe said, cracking the tab on her can with a hiss. Max followed suit, jumping at the spray that coated her hand. Chloe held the can in the air. "To the first Halloween back as partners in crime." She smiled. Max bumped her can to Chloe's with a smile that she couldn't help.

"To being partners in time." She nodded.

And with a shared look, they took a mouth of beer. The long swig that Max took in making her hiccup and Chloe laugh in response. Max kicked her, the eyepatch over her left eye severely damaging her depth perception, allowing Chloe to dodge out of the way triumphantly, a smug look on her face that Max couldn't decide if she wanted to slap or kiss off her. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Chloe had convinced Max to break her one drink limit before they had even left the dorms, the two of them finishing two beers before they grabbed their cutlasses and camera and left to the main building, where the fireworks were. Despite the warm buzz the beer left in Max's head, she couldn't ignore the nerves that swirled around in her stomach. She felt Chloe grab her hand as she talked excitedly about all the kinds of fireworks she wanted to see as they walked across the green to join their friends and the contact helped settle them enough to allow a genuine smile to grace her features.

Max had a love-hate relationship with fireworks; the colours were beautiful and her artistic eye loved the sight of them but the noise of them counteracted all their visual impressiveness. She'd hated the noise since she was a kid, having to make sure she was tucked up safe inside every New Year and 4th July since she could remember. When she had lived in Arcadia as a kid, she would always go to Chloe's on the 5th July and William and Joyce would let her and Chloe play with an entire packet of sparklers in the backyard whilst William grilled his famous burgers. That would usually mean that Chloe would light the sparklers and Max would take photos of her, the lights fascinating her when they weren't accompanied by the scary explosions.

These were no sparklers, however, Max noted as Hayden lit the first pile of dangerous-looking rockets. The spark died and suddenly the rocket shot into the air with a hiss. There was a long moment where nothing happened and the hang of suspense stressed Max to no end. Suddenly, the sky lit up with bright gold sparks and the air was filled with a loud crack that cut straight through to Max's brain. It made her jump and whereas everyone else watching let out a chorus of impressed noises, Max shrunk back, staying silent as she watched the colours fade to nothing but wisps of smoke.

"Damn, I forgot fireworks were so fucking cool this close up!" Max heard Chloe laugh as she playfully nudged her shoulder. Max forced a weak smile and nodded in response, hoping it would be convincing enough to fool her best friend. Obviously not, Max thought, as Chloe tilted her head in confusion and stared at her. Max tried her best to keep the brave face but a sudden crack of sound had her flinching something spectacular and stepping back away from the crowd.

No one noticed her absence, too preoccupied with the bright display that lit up the campus of Blackwell and she was actually really glad for it as she shook her head to almost try and shake the noise away. She was distracted by a hand landing on her shoulder.

"Max, you okay?" Chloe asked, her voice laced with concern that, when Max looked up, was painted onto her features also. Max tried to answer but the noise of more explosions cut her off. She watched the colours light up Chloe's worried features, the blue light of the fireworks painting her face with shadows and colour, the chiaroscuro of her face in that moment making her even more beautiful than usual. A glint of realisation appeared in Chloe's eyes and she hurriedly looked over her shoulder at the fading sparkles.

"Shit. I forgot." She said as she turned back. She grabbed Max's shoulders with both hands, holding her tight. "I'm sorry, Max, I forgot about the fireworks. I forgot you didn't… I'm sorry." She rambled, a sad look overtaking her concerned one before she sighed and stared at her feet.

"It's okay." Max comforted her, knowing that Chloe was probably beating herself up for dragging Max out. "It's just loud. The colours are still pretty." Max smiled, doing her best to ignore the shouts of the crowd stood a few feet away from them to light the next rocket. Chloe looked up and Max knew the look on her face well. It was her 'I have an idea' face. It was one of the ones that made Max equal parts nervous and excited and this time she couldn't decide which way it was going to go.

"Here, turn around." Chloe said, her hands encouraging Max by tugging on her shoulders. Max did so, albeit confused and stumbling on her feet with the sudden force. She stood upright, facing the sky where the next firework would go off and was about to ask what Chloe was up to when she felt warm hands cover her ears either side of her face.

Chloe had covered her ears for her, her fingers coming to rest in Max's hair, in an attempt at makeshift ear defenders. To Max's surprise, when the next firework lit up the sky, the sound was muffled enough that she was able to watch as the splash of gold and red painted the sky in a dazzling flash of light. She laughed in a little disbelief that Chloe's idea had worked so well.

"Better?" She heard Chloe say as she lifted her right palm off Max's ear. Max nodded, turning to smile widely at the blue haired pirate. Chloe smiled right back before resting her arms on Max's shoulders, their bodies fitting together to shut out the beginning tendrils of winter air.

"Hella." Max said, prompting Chloe to roll her eyes with a laugh and cover her ears back up, the pair of them turning back to watch Trevor attempt to run away from a rogue Catherine Wheel.

* * *

Chloe had protected Max diligently for the entire display, making sure that the younger girl was happy and content every few minutes, always receiving a nod and a smile in return. Throughout, Max had taken plenty of photos: of the two of them smiling into the camera, with some groups of her friends that stood near, a photo of Warren in his Dr Horrible costume and even some of the fireworks. The display ended with everyone being given a sparkler and, in keeping with their tradition, Chloe waved the sparkler wildly around as Max snapped shots of her, laughing at her to stand still.

Then they had made their way to the party and, to Max's surprise, it was way less full of douchebags than Max had feared it would be. Must be the fact that it wasn't a Vortex Club affair, rather a Dana Ward spectacular. The decorations were next level and the music was actually half-decent - none of that techno shit the Vortex Club favoured. And even though everyone drank, no one was stupid drunk. Sure, Justin fell into the bleachers but Max was 99% sure that was to do with the bong he had ripped in his dorm halfway through the party.

The night went as well as it could've done, with Chloe convincing her to have just another few drinks. For every drink Max had, she was sure Chloe had three but it was still Max that was swinging off her as they danced together. Chloe had chased Warren with her cutlass when he had tried to get Max to slow dance, whilst Max had chased Chloe to stop chasing Warren.

Dana had continually asked Max to bring Chloe on a double date with her and Trevor despite Max's insistence that they were just friends. Then Chloe had bounded over, looking to drag Max into the dancefloor to dance to Fall Out Boy, and Dana had asked her instead. Max felt her cheeks heat up until Chloe nodded and enthusiastically agreed, saying she'd get her Mom to save a booth at the diner for them all. Dana had thrown Max a knowing look and Max felt her face turn even redder before she was being dragged across the floor to dance.

Max had spoken to all her friends and laughed and drank and danced until she was exhausted. And the entire time, Chloe was beside her, the two of them receiving many compliments for their matching pirate attire. As the night had progressed, they had become more and more touchy feely until they were walking home with Chloe draped over her, holding a bag full of candy they had nabbed from the snack table and singing into the quiet night.

"This is Halloween, this is Halloween, Halloween, HallOWEEN, HALLO-"

"Shut up!" Max laughed, feeling more than drunk enough as the pair of them stumbled across the grass in front of the dorm building. Chloe laughed too before starting again, even louder and with dreadful drunk dance moves.

"Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange?" She sang terribly out of tune, waving their bag of candy in the air. God, she was drunk. But then again, Max thought as she stumbled on perfectly level ground, she was too.

"Come on, Jack, let's get you to bed." She said, trying to navigate the stairs leading up to the building whilst piloting Chloe.

"I would be an excellent Jack Skellington." She slurred, nodding in agreement with her own point as they staggered up the stairs together. She pulled Max into her side using the arm already slung over her shoulder, knocking Max completely off balance and leaving her to grip onto the railing to keep them both upright. Chloe kissed the side of her head clumsily. "I'd be Jack and you can be my Sally."

Max laughed, knowing exactly what was coming. Sure enough, Chloe took a breath in and began to sing.

"My dearest friend, if you don't miiiind," She drawled, horrifically out of tune as Max kept shushing her, knowing that there would be people trying to sleep as they entered the corridor her room was in. Max ushered her down the hall as Chloe continued to sing.

"I'd like to join you by your siiiiide." The last note was so flat that it made Max snort with laughter, even though she kept telling Chloe to be quiet. Chloe laughed too as they stumbled through the hallway.

"Where we can gaze into the stars," Chloe continued, tone deaf as ever. The door to Kate's room opened and Max could only smile sheepishly as Kate, Alyssa and Stella watched the pair of them with amused grins.

"And sit togeth- hey!" Chloe thwarted Max on the shoulder, prompting Max to yelp in surprise. "This is a duet, Maxine. You gotta sing with me, remember?"

Kate, Alyssa and Stella all laughed at that, giggling again when Max rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry. She's drunk." Max apologised, feeling Chloe throw herself forward to look at their friends. Max steadied her with a hand to her chest, lest she topple completely forward.

"I'm not drunk, I'm Chloe. Geddit?" She grinned. Max patted her shoulder with a smile.

"Yes dear, we all get it. Let's get you to bed." Max told her, silently mouthing her apologies and goodbyes to the three girls before hauling Chloe the last few metres to her door. She unlocked her bedroom door and the two of them all but fell through before Max closed and locked it behind them. She watched as Chloe staggered over to the bed and collapsed onto it, flat on her back with her arms spread wide as she stared at the ceiling.

"Where we can gaze at the stars," Chloe sang again.

"Oh good, more singing." Max muttered sarcastically as she turned on her lanterns, filling the room with soft yellow light. She barely had the chance to stand up before Chloe grabbed her hand.

"And sit to- Max, cmon, duet!" She whined, staring up at her with an honest to god pout upon her lips. Max was just drunk enough to indulge her, forgetting for a moment she lived in shared accommodation. She rolled her eyes and nodded, making Chloe laugh before she took a breath in.

"And sit together," The two of them sang, Max infinitely more in tune. "Now and forever."

Chloe unsteadily stood from the bed, swaying dangerously. Max rushed forward and grabbed her waist, just trying to keep her steady, laughing as Chloe held her hands out to stay stable.

"For it is plain as anyone can see," Chloe sang, significantly quieter as she clumsily slung her arms over Max's shoulders. Max chuckled at her best friend's dedication to finishing this song and even sang the last line with her as they stood in each other's embrace.

"We're simply meant to be."

There was a long moment of silence and Max wasn't quite sure what was going on behind Chloe's glazed eyes. She thought she saw her lean down a little but that could've well been Max's wishful thinking - or in fact, Chloe's drunken instability. Max was about to pull away when Chloe pulled the eyepatch she had flipped up earlier in the night back down to cover her eye.

"You make a cute pirate, Caulfield." Chloe murmured, a drunk smile on her face. Max chuckled under her breath, reaching up to tap the Captain's hat on Chloe's head.

"You're not so bad yourself, Captain Bluebeard." Max replied, fueled by dutch courage and overspilling emotion for her ridiculous best friend stood in front of her. "It was nice to be pirates with you again."

Chloe nodded, her smile fading to a more serious look that Max couldn't quite decipher. Suddenly, Chloe was dipping forward, making Max's hands grip instinctively tight to her waist to try and prevent her from falling. Chloe got mere inches from her face, her eyes half-lidded where she was going in for Max's lips, before the hat upon her head hit Max in the face, making Max withdraw in surprise.

"Shit, sorry." Chloe mumbled, throwing the hat from her head haphazardly to the floor. Max watched her, her heart pounding from the near kiss they'd experienced. Her heartbeat didn't have time to normalise though, as Chloe slung her arms back over her shoulders and took a steadying breath before leaning in again. Max, in a mix of excitement and nerves at the prospect of finally kissing Chloe Price, tried to close the gap between them but a combination of the eyepatch and the alcohol altering her depth perception meant she misjudged the distance between them. She brought their foreheads together in an audible thud, both of them recoiling in pain whilst laughing.

"Damn it. Stupid eyepatch." Max shook her head, tearing the offending item from her face and tossing it carelessly onto her couch. The two girls laughed, falling quiet as they looked each other in the eye again. Max was scared she'd chased the moment away, taking any chance of finally kissing Chloe with it. Her fears were waved away as Chloe took a small step towards her.

Gently, Chloe held her face in both of her hands. Max just watched as Chloe's drunk eyes scanned her face and then she was leaning in. She pressed her lips to Max's softly, cautiously, holding for a mere moment before retracting, leaving Max stood in shock. There were a few seconds where the air was electric, both of them waiting for the other to say something. Then, as if someone shoved them both from behind, they sprang forward and connected their lips again.

They met in a clumsy mess of lips and tongue and accidental teeth, with hands finding their way into hair and clutching onto fabric. Chloe tasted of beer and the cigarettes she had been smoking all night but as her tongue swiped along Max's bottom lip, threatening to knock her legs out from underneath her, Max decided that it was a taste she could definitely get used to. Besides, there was something so undeniably Chloe underlying it that Max soon forgot the ashy taste.

Max couldn't decide if she pushed them or Chloe pulled them (or a combination of the two), but the pair of them stumbled across the room and landed in a graceless heap on the bed, their lips only separating for a split second before Chloe was cupping her cheek and diving back in with newfound hunger.

If you'd have told Max six months ago that she'd be back living in Arcadia Bay, drunk as hell and making out with her childhood best friend Chloe Price, she'd have told you that you were insane. But then again, if you'd have told Max any of the crazy shit she would experience that month, maybe making out with Chloe would've ranked quite low on the crazy scale.

Still, Max thought as Chloe's hand slipped under her shirt to grip her bare waist as she tugged softly at her top lip with her teeth, this was pretty fucking crazy.

After a while, the desperate kisses between them stole their oxygen and they had to pull away just to take in air that washed across the others face as they breathed heavily.

"Woah." Max breathed, staring up into Chloe's hooded eyes. She brought a hand up to smooth blue hair back, leaving it there as she stared at the older girl. Chloe nodded, a smirk beginning to form.

"Hella fucking woah, yeah."

The sentence, combined with the fact they were both still pretty wasted, made the pair of them burst into laughter, Max leaning forward to laugh into Chloe's shoulder. Chloe wrapped her arms around Max and the two of them lay there, softly chuckling in disbelief for a long while.

"Hey, Max?" Chloe asked softly after a long silence. Max hummed her acknowledgment, her heart beating a little quicker as she thought what Chloe could say. Would it be what she always wanted to hear? Or did Chloe take it back? What was going on in that mysterious punk head of hers?

"Can I break into that candy?" She asked, reaching for the bag that lay discarded on the bed beside them. Max felt her whole body relax and she laughed at the girl who, not five minutes ago had been kissing the absolute hell out of her. She was still the goof she had always known, even after all this time.

"Sure, Chlo. Let's see the loot." Max okayed, sitting up with Chloe as the older girl excitedly began to rifle through the bag, almost like they hadn't just made out. But then Max caught sight of some mini tootsie roll bites and understood Chloe's desire to tuck into their stash.

They sat for a while, dividing the candy and arguing over if candy corn pumpkins were even tasty or not, just like all the Halloweens they had shared before. Except this time, they didn't have to wait for an adult to give them a horror film, with Max instead finding one on her hard drive. Now this was the Halloween she had imagined; There was candy and a scary movie and her best friend.

She looked over and watched Chloe struggle to pull apart a block of Gushers, her eyebrows drawn together in concentration. She was so cute and all Max could think about was kissing her again. She laughed a little when Chloe successfully pulled a candy away from the block and smiled triumphantly to herself before eating it. So. Damn. Cute.

"Chloe?" She asked, prompting her to look up from the candy to her. Max was just going to make some dumb joke about Chloe's candy excavation but she found herself saying what she really wanted to say out loud before her brain could stop her.

"I love you." Max said, the words holding so much more weight to them, unlike the millions of other times they had said it. She couldn't help but stare as a warm smile spread across Chloe's face and the girl threw the candy she had been working on to Max's dresser. Max went to scold her, knowing that that was the quickest way to get ants in her room but was cut off by Chloe clambering atop her and pressing her lips to Max's again.

Instantly, a hand tangled itself in blue hair as their lips moved together, softer than before. More patient, more careful. Like they had all the time in the world.

"I love you too." Chloe murmured against her lips, chasing the words with more soft kisses. "My partner in crime." She breathed, resting her forehead to Max's.

"And time." Max joked, her hand twisting blue hair between her fingers, silently urging Chloe to kiss her again. Which she did. Multiple times. In fact, enough times that it meant the last 45 minutes of the movie and the credits played before the girls had separated. Not that they minded. At all.

A/N: So, I wanted to add here that in my canon for LiS, Max is on the autism spectrum - I don't know why but some of the things she does and the way she operates remind me of people I've known that live with Aspergers and other such conditions. It doesn't mean I don't love Max Caulfield with my whole heart because I absolutely do! Just that I think that this is a detail that makes her this imperfect everyday hero. That is why she struggles with the loud noise of fireworks in this fic, as I have seen people that I know have this issue too. If anything I've said or portrayed in this fic offends or upsets you then I really apologise and you can message me to talk about anything. Thanks for reading again! :)


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